I don't like meat (*gasp She said what?!?)

I am from Montana and in Montana, meat is a big deal.  I mean a really big deal.  The goal in life is to attain meat, buy, wrap and freeze  meat, learn to cook meat, and eat meat.  And I don't mean just any meat.  I mean red meat.  It is ingrained in your thinking and is a way of life that a person who is not from Montana just can't understand.  I just bought ground turkey for the first time last year.  I actually felt guilty about it and could picture my family cringing if they saw me and biting their tongues from all the smart remarks that came to mind.  (Or not biting their tongues and just saying them)  I said something to my husband about feeling weird and he said "It's just meat - What's the big deal?"  He is from California.  I wanted to shout "What do you mean what's the big deal?!?  It's turkey and it's not a bird at Thanksgiving?!"

The funny thing is, I have all these ingrained opinions about meat and I don't even like it.  I like chicken breasts, ham, jerky, and bacon, and that's about it.  I gag down other meats for the sake of the kids (I don't want them to be picky) but I really really dislike most meats.  And I've started to notice that I feel sick after I eat red meat.  Every single time.   It seriously took me until I was in my thirties to figure out that I didn't like it.  I was supposed to like meat!!!  It never really occurred me that I didn't have to like it or eat it - it was just a part of life.

The point of all of this:  the people you spend your time with, affect the way you think.  The people you surround yourself with influence your thinking.  So.  What do the people you spend time with think about?  What do they talk about?  What do they spend their time doing?  Because eventually it's gonna start to affect you.  It'll affect what you think about, talk about, and do.

Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. 

Do the people you spend time with bring out the best in you?  We have the ability to bring out the best in those around us but we also have the ability to bring out the worst.  And that goes double for those we are closest to.  We tend to "let our hair down" with our close family and friends.  You have an influence on those around you.  Are you doing, saying, and thinking things that are pleasing to God?  

We especially influence our children.  They see everything.  EVERYTHING that you are doing.  They are quietly (or not so quietly) watching every single thing you do.  If you lie to the guy at the door selling something or talk sweetly to someone on the phone and then talk nasty about them after you hang up, your kids probably saw that.  Or realize that someone gave you too much change but keep it instead of give it back.  They saw that too.  Are you watching things that you would be embarrassed to tell anyone about?  Or reading things that would raise eyebrows?  Because your kids catch on to that too.

I think I posted about this before but I recently went outside and heard one of my kids shout "Shut the dang door!!"  behind me.  Oh really?  NOT how you talk to your mother but she sounded exactly like me.  Our kids talk like us.  They often have the same fears that we do too.  If you act like a twit every time a cat walks by your kids do too.  If you are terrified of thunder your kids pick up on that too.  If you treat waitresses badly or are a crummy tipper, your kids are watching.  If you are a chronic complainer chances are you're raising complainers.  If you think eating red meat is important, your kids will feel that way too.  

 Something to think on today - what are you passing on to your kids?  What things are you etching into their little brains without even realizing it?  Is it pleasing to God?

The waiting phase

Do you ever feel a longing in your heart that you were created for something - you just don't know what? Or maybe you even know what, it's just not working out the way you wanted.  I have felt that way.  I am onto the next phase though and am firmly planted in the season of motherhood.  I craved this season and even though it's hard it's also wonderful.  THIS is what I'm supposed to be doing.  Training up these little people for the kingdom of God.  It feels good to be confident that you are doing exactly what God would have for you.  The ministry and other things I'm involved in feel that way too.  That it's exactly what God wants me to be doing.  Such a sense of peace comes from being exactly where we're supposed to be.

It takes the other seasons to get here though.  The seasons of waiting and praying I mean.  Those are important for learning and growth and even though waiting is no fun we can rest knowing that God has a plan.  This is my fourth year with Cubbies and I think this year as director is going pretty well.  I'm enjoying it and have a peace that this is what I'm supposed to be doing.  I couldn't have done this though without being a helper for those last three years.  And I didn't love those.  I did it because I felt like I was supposed to but it was not the highlight of my week.

I also did not love the "baby years".  Some things were fun but overall that was not my favorite.  I had to go through those years to get to the "little people years" though.  And I do love the "little people years".  As an aside - it's ok if you don't love every phase of your children's lives.  Moms feel guilty about so many things and one of them is not loving every single second of it.  It's ok if you don't!  God created you to click with the different parts better than others.  Just do your best and learn and grow from the ones that are hard for you.

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Sometimes we know that we are currently in a phase of waiting.  Sometimes we don't.  If we are in constant contact with God and know that we're being obedient in whatever we're doing though, we will eventually get to that season where things feel like they fall into place.  Then it'll probably start all over again with another phase of waiting.  :)  Some of that learning from the waiting phase may not even be for us.  It might be for our spouse.  Your husband or wife may have something to learn from what you are going through.  Or maybe your kids.  Or your grandkids.  We might be learning something that is going to affect our entire family tree!

Isaiah 30:18  
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

Maybe you are waiting out a pregnancy.  Or a rough patch with your spouse.  Or a school year with a crummy teacher.  Or a period of financial stress. Waiting is so hard.  Be encouraged though that it has a purpose.  God has a plan.  If you are in a season of waiting, He has something for you to learn from it and it won't last forever - "this too shall pass".  I was looking for a picture of a clock to add to this post and I loved this one.  What a good reminder.  


Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Let your kids amaze you

I have been crabby with my kids lately.  I hate that.  It has nothing to do with them - just busy "grown up" stuff - but they are the ones feeling it.  I was reminded from our Cubbies lesson last week how precious children are to God.  If you have kids they are a precious gift that we should be so thankful for.  This morning I walked through a big pee puddle barefoot because someone completely missed the potty.  It wasn't at the front of my mind then, what a gift that kid is to me.  We just had a battle to the death (or the nap) with our two year old, over eating her lunch and that didn't feel like a gift.  Two kids just got in a fight over having to share the "dancing space" in the living room and that didn't feel like a gift.  But those little people are.  And they need me.  They need me to love them unconditionally - through the pee puddles, and the lunch battles, and the dancing drama.

It seems like loving unconditionally should come easy to a mom but it doesn't always.  It's easier to give love when they are being good and obeying.  It's easier when I'm happy and getting my way and not walking through pee puddles.  But loving unconditionally means that no matter what is done you will love them through it.  That doesn't mean just the big stuff it means the little things too.  Putting down the phone, turning away from the computer and actually looking at them when they're trying to tell you something.  Remembering to hug and snuggle the seven year old and not just the baby.  Putting aside your own mental "stuff" when they climb in the car after school and want to tell you about their day.  These childhood years go by so quickly and before long they aren't going to want to tell you everything.  If you're not listening, eventually they'll quit trying to tell you things.

I recently realized that my five year old was reading "Charlotte's Web".  She loves piggies and found the book in our school cupboard.  I also found out that she can hula hoop for over two minutes while carrying on a conversation and walking around!  During my last exercise work out she did 109 step ups while holding five pounds.  She's also good at soccer, good at school, and can draw all sorts of animals.

I get so busy sometimes I forget to let my kids amaze me.  And when you have more than one kid it's hard to find one-on-one time where you would be paying attention to these sorts of things.  It was fun to find out all those things about my five year old.  I wish I'd been paying more attention though so I wasn't "finding out" anything.  There are so many blogs and reminders lately about this - spending more time with your kids, enjoying their little kid moments etc.  It's so hard to do though when you're just trying to survive your days.  When you're struggling, pray about it.  Pray that God would help you enjoy your kids.  He is so faithful to answer our prayers and can give us time and opportunities that we couldn't get by ourselves.

1 Thessalonians 5:24
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

The One who called you to motherhood is faithful.  He will help you - just ask!  Ask that He'll let you be amazed by your kids today and see if you learn anything new.

Through the bumpy

Have you noticed that when God asks you to do something, He doesn't do it like you would do it?  He doesn't make it easy and everything doesn't happen in a timely orderly fashion.  God doesn't ask us to do something when our calendar is completely blank.  He asks us when we're already busy and pressed for time.  He doesn't ask us to do things within our comfort zone.  He stretches us, asking us to go beyond that.  And He doesn't ask us to partner with our best friends for ministry.  He asks us to work with difficult people.

God does things like ask Noah to build an ark when it had never rained before.  He waited until Sarah is ninety years old to bless her with baby Isaac then  asked Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.  He allowed Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery.  And He asked a man with a fear of public speaking  (Moses) to lead the Israelites.  God's ways are not our ways.

Isaiah 55:9
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God sees the big picture when we don't and He has a plan.  He wants us to trust Him and then obey Him.  Easier said than done!  Especially if you are a bit type A and like being in control.  The lesson on my mind most this last year is that God is sovereign.  He is in complete control and everything that happens to us was allowed by Him.  Every single difficult thing we go through has been allowed by God and He has a reason for it.  There's a sense of peace that comes when we remember this.  

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God created people to know, love, and glorify Him.  When He asks things of us, He wants the glory for it.  If we're involved in ministry and it's easy, God wouldn't get the credit, we would.  If we don't ever have to pray for wisdom or ask for His help, it would be all about us.  How limiting that would be!  We serve a big God and when it's about Him (not us) it's going to be soo much better.  That doesn't mean it'll go smoothly or be easy but it's going to be better.  I used to pray that things would go smoothly.  That our day would go smoothly or whatever I was working on would go smoothly, but when things are smooth we don't get to see God in action.  I want to see God in action!  We get to see how God provides when things are bumpy.  Not that we need to pray for bumpy because life will just be that way, but instead my prayers now ask for wisdom through the bumpy.  Or ask for help through the bumpy.  Or I pray that the things I do and say would be pleasing to Him (through the bumpy).

Ephesians 3:20-21
 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ok maybe it does...

I had a blog post yesterday about how difficult Sunday mornings can be when you've got young children.  The perfect Sunday of a peaceful and wonderful morning just doesn't usually happen.  Today was pretty great though.  Several children in our Sunday school department accepted Christ.  That alone would have made the morning pretty great.  I really love this verse:

Luke 15:10
In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Can you picture that?  What it must look like when the angels rejoice?  They are rejoicing today!!!  Praise the Lord!  My husband recently started helping with the third and fourth grade Sunday school class.  It wasn't easy to have my husband leave early to go help with Sunday school but I'm so very thankful that he did.  He got to be witness to something really amazing this morning.

He also gave blood for the first time today.  It's like he's changing before my very eyes because giving blood is not something that would have ever been on his radar before.  But he did it!  We were told that this was a huge day for the blood bank.  On a normal day they might get fifteen donations and today they got forty-two.  That's huge!  And they got one more than last year.  :)  When I had our last baby the surgery was very high risk and I lost a LOT of blood.  I needed a blood transfusion and  I'm grateful for blood donors!


At our church, Sunday school is during the first service and in the second service the younger kids can go to children's church.  We used to go to church while our kids were in Sunday school but now stay through both services.  Our oldest has never had communion before - not because we didn't feel she was old enough.  She is plenty mature enough to have the understanding of it all and she is a follower of Christ, but she just hasn't ever been in church when we were doing it. Today she was though.  And if there was any doubt in my mind that she had the understanding, today's sermon was about communion and she heard every bit of it.  What a precious thing for this mama to get to be with her when she had communion for the first time.  In my mind this is bigger than the first day of school or losing a tooth, this felt like a biggie.

As if all that wasn't enough, I got to go to my own Sunday school class starting today.  A class going through the Bible from cover to cover.  An entire hour of adult conversation WITH donuts!  My toddler was well cared for, my four year old had a ton of fun, and we came home to lunch in the oven.

Have you ever noticed how if you say "I will never..." then God has you do it?  I once said I would never marry someone from California.  I don't know why, but see how that worked out.  I'm glad that I said the perfect Sunday doesn't exist because I was blessed with a pretty good one today.

1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

The Perfect Sunday (doesn't exist)

Picture this: You get up to a quiet house on Sunday morning, have your cup of coffee, get ready for church, and make a big breakfast for your family.  Your happy children enjoy their food and then clear the table and help clean up the kitchen.  Everyone gets dressed in the clothes that were ironed and laid out the night before.  The kids are squeaky clean from their evening baths so you just have to do their hair, zip zippers and help with shoes and then everyone's ready to go.  On the way to church your kids sing praise songs while you and your husband visit about your plans for the day.  You get to church to deposit everyone in their Sunday School classes and then head into church with your husband.  The music is wonderful, the sermon is wonderful, and after church you enjoy time of fellowship with friends.  You head home with the family to a clean house and yummy lunch in the oven.  Wouldn't that be a perfect Sunday?

That doesn't really happen does it?  This is more like it:  You get up early so you can take your shower before the kids wake up and are halfway through when you hear the baby crying.  You finish as fast as possible to go get her before she wakes up anyone else.  Didn't work, and now half the kids are up.  You forget your "no TV before church rule" because you have to finish getting ready.  You can't find  your eyeliner and the shirt you had planned to wear is dirty.  By now everyone is awake and hungry so you rush them through cereal and into baths.  You really wish you would've gotten baths done on Saturday night but it just didn't happen.  After rushing them through baths the oldest goes to get dressed and comes back in purple striped leggings and an orange tank top.  Um, I don't think so.  Find a DRESS to wear!  She can't, so you stuff her into the first one you grab.  Meanwhile kid number four is on the table again and drinking out of the cereal bowls you hadn't gotten cleaned up yet.  Now she needs new clothes so you change her.  Kid number three goes potty and can't get his pants back up while kid number two battles to the death to wear sneakers with her sundress.  Your husband is grumpy and you are hungry.  You grab a Luna bar, slurp down some cold coffee and finish everyone's hair.  You finally get everyone out to the car and realize the baby has pooped.  Race back inside to change her, go back to the car to find kid numbers one and three fighting over the middle seat belt.  Neither uses it so that doesn't make sense.  Turn on the music and everyone complains wanting something else.  Say something to husband and a misunderstanding causes a fight that you haven't finished with by the time you get to church.  You drop kids off in Sunday school and realize the nursery worker didn't show, so you stay to help.  Your really fun group of two year olds' take turns crying and pooping and the pastor's sermon goes fifteen minutes long Again.  Parents finally meander in to pick up kids and you dash off to get your own.  You get everyone into church and your kids all need drinks and the potty.  After a sermon that you didn't hear because you are stilling thinking about that fight from earlier, you get everyone home and then wonder what quick thing you could make for lunch.  Macaroni and cheese?  Quesadillas?  Fast food would have been handy but just isn't in the budget and you forgot to get the crockpot idea from pinterest started last night.

So.  That's more like it isn't it?  Not every Sunday is that bad but NO Sunday is EVER like the first one.  And even though I know that I'm always expecting a little bit of The Perfect Sunday.  Instead, Sundays are really about survival when you have young kids.  With babies and toddlers who usually nap you have to deal with a fussy kid.  You have to figure out how to get yourself and all your kids ready, how to make lunch when you're not home, and how to focus on the sermon and what you're supposed to be learning today.

Adjust your expectations.  If you set your expectations lower you won't be as stressed.  I think it's stressful to come home to a messy house.  I need to adjust to that though because that's usually how it's gonna be.  Big fancy Sunday lunches are another thing I need to let go of.  It would be nice, but I just don't have the time for that.  Also, I need to not squeeze in extra things while trying to get to church.- either housework and laundry or errands.

Plan ahead.  If you take the time to plan ahead on Saturday evening, it can make Sundays less stressful.  Sometimes Saturdays are too busy for Sunday prep work but when it can be done,  it helps so much.  Start by thinking through your Sunday meals.  Plan something easy for breakfast like muffins or bagels.  Having the kids use napkins or paper plates makes clean up faster, as well as having the dishwasher unloaded the night before.  Sunday lunch is often a struggle for young families.  Eating out would be fun and so much easier but most just can't afford to eat out every Sunday.  (If you can, woohoo for you!).  Our oven has a delay start function so using that or the crockpot makes it possible to have food cooking and ready by the time we get home.  Things like frozen lasagna or chicken dump recipes are nice (several ingredients plus chicken dumped into the crock pot).  Or even easier - macaroni and cheese or quesadillas.

Get everyone's clothes ready the night before.  It never fails that when I don't do this someone can't find what they had wanted to wear.  I have kids who are "on and off" stinkers about their clothes.  Having them pick out things the night before eliminates some of the morning battles.  Clothes for six people is a lot of clothes, so it really helps my morning if everyone already knows what they are wearing.

Pray.  Even if you have a regular routine for your quiet times, it's easy to skip it on Sundays.  Don't do it though!  The enemy would LOVE for you to not make it to church.  He'd love for you end up there fighting with your spouse or frazzled from your morning.  Spending time with God to prepare yourself for church will help keep the enemy at bay.  One Sunday at church we were in the middle of singing and a lady came in a little late.  After she put her things down in her seat, I saw her bow and pray.  That was such a good reminder to me.  We need to prepare ourselves for worship.  Spend the time to get your head in the right place.  That might mean making peace with someone you've had a problem with.  It's hard to sit in front of the person you're angry with and have it not affect your ability to worship.  Or it might mean having a quick sidebar with your husband outside in order to get that disagreement ironed out.

Whatever you can do to make it easier for you, do it.  Maybe that means taking a shower the night before.  Or saving a little of your grocery money for a fast food lunch.  Or maybe that means saying "no" to some things on Saturdays because you need that extra time to get meals and clothes ready for Sunday.  It might mean waking up earlier to have more time on Sunday mornings.  Whatever you can think of that would make life easier, do it!  And give yourself emotional permission to do it.  Relax your expectations.  As moms, we set the tone and everyone else feels our stress.  I don't want my kids to feel inner stress because of lack of planning on my part.  I want Sundays to be a good experience for them.  If you have ideas on how you survive Sundays I would love to hear them!

Give them grace

Give grace.  I've heard this saying a whole lot in the last year.  It's like a fad saying and those are always annoying.  But there is truth in it so I shouldn't throw it out altogether.  To give grace means to forgive someone when they don't deserve it.  It means to love someone who doesn't deserve it.  And to not let the ungrateful people in our lives turn us into cynics, ruining who God created us to be.

This picture made me laugh so hard when I saw it.  We all have these kind of people in our lives though.  It would be so much easier to just cut these people out but that's just not always possible.  That annoying, stubborn, or just plain unlovable person in your life might be a relative.  They might be a coworker, or someone else you just can't get away from.  When this is the case it's nice to remember that God is sovereign and nothing happens without Him allowing it.  He may have put this person into your life because you need to learn something from it.  You need to practice loving someone who isn't easy to love.

Matthew 5:46-48
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Luke 6:32-36

32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

It's good for us when God asks us to do things that are not easy.  It's an opportunity for growth and if it were easy God wouldn't get the credit.  That frustrating person in your life may be hard to love but you don't have to do it alone.  Ask Him for help.  It's good to remember too that we don't deserve the grace that God gives us, but He does it anyways.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. 

On the flip side of all that - how easy is it for people to love you?  Is there any way possible that you are that difficult person in someone's life?  That they have to pray for help giving grace to you on a regular basis?  Oh I hope not!  If someone does something for you, do you say thank you?  Do you appreciate it when others offer to help you or do you take it for granted?  Do you respond if they call you or message you?  Nonresponse is like ignoring them you know, and how does that feel?  Do you reciprocate or just  do the asking?  I sure hope I'm not the difficult person in someones life.  If I am then I would feel like I'm failing miserably at the mission God has given me here.  

I once saw someone post that she had gotten sick and she wondered who she needed to forgive for that.  I liked that and it stuck with me.  Now when that person is frustrating me I think "here's another chance to practice giving grace Lord" and I can approach it differently.  I hope that as you go through your day today you are able to think of that frustrating person in a new way.  That you can remember that God loves them too.  That God put them in your life, and that there is a reason for whatever you are dealing with today.